Shattered
by small light
Summary: when her mother comes back with a new boyfriend Sakuno's life changes forever.
1. Chapter 1

I don't own Prince of tennis

PROLOGUE

_**They say you never know how valuable something is until you've lost it. And they're right. As I look back to what was once my life I realize how beautiful everything had been.**_

_**Six month ago**_ my life was perfect. I had no worries but school and my crush, of course being the shy girl that I was I could and would never tell him my feelings. I had a friend that always cheered me up, a loving grandmother and about a million dreams.

_**Five months ago**_ my mother decided to come back home with her new boyfriend. She also decided that I was to live with her and not my grandma. This saddened me but the shadow it cast upon my blissful existence was as fleeting as a morning dream.

_**Four months**_ ago my mom left for another one of her business deals leaving me alone in the newly furnished apartment with her new love. I still didn't mind and nothing seemed out of the ordinary I mean this was not the first time she left. True enough before she used to leave me with my grandma and not her boyfriend but in my childishly naïve mind I honestly believed that it meant she was more serious with this one than with all the others. I actually began fantasizing on what it would be like to have a father again and it felt nice.

That was the last time I was childish or happy for that matter. The last time I would watch life with hope filled eyes and think it was my playground. The last time I would trust someone or dare dream.

One day _**three months ago**_ I arrived home a bit late for my teacher decided to keep me after class. I can remember everything perfectly, the eerie atmosphere that seemed to engulf the entire apartment, the lack of sound the darkness that greeted me when I entered and him. Why I don't know, I never did and most probably never will, but he grabbed my hands roughly not caring about the pain he was causing me and began screaming at me. I was so terrified that I couldn't answer his questions which only made him angrier resulting in him throwing me against the wall. I remember the pain that coursed through my body as he started hitting me over and over again. And all I could do was cry and pray it would stop.

When it finally did I couldn't move for the pain was too great, so I just sat there hugging my knees as tightly as I could crying till I passed out. I woke up later in my room. My first thought was "It was all a dream." But the bruises I saw in the mirror spoke of a different truth, one I didn't want to hear. I slowly made my way to the door only to find it locked, on my nightstand was a first aid kit a bottle of water and some food, that is if you can call two bags of potato chips food.

For some reason I didn't panic or freak out, I took everything with calm, too much calm. One could say that I was on the verge of something, what I may never find out.

The next day he let me out at about eight at night. Seeing how the house was empty I made a run for it. Go to my grandma that's what I thought, she will make everything better. But when I arrived there as soon as she saw me she slapped me. I didn't know what to say; although her slap was far gentler than his fists it hurt 10 times more. Why? What did I do? I was the victim here and yet she saw me as the criminal? I ran to my last refuge, the last place where I could find help. I went to my best friend in search of answers and help. I only received answers.

Apparently **He** told everyone I ran of with a gang after steeling money from him and threatening to hurt him. I almost laughed at this. The image was two ridiculous for my mind to conceive.

They forced me to go back to him that very night telling me what a disappointment I was and how they would make sure I wouldn't stray from the right path again.

After that the days were a blur to me, the bruises on my body began to spread like a disease and my so called friends abandoned me thinking I really was in a gang. Soon enough he wasn't satisfied with just bruises so I started showing up at school with broken arms or deep cuts that forever stained my uniform. And nobody cared, not even I.

One month ago I held a total of over half a dozen hospitalizations a broken arm cuts that varied in lengh from one to six inches, a broken nose three broken ribs and a criminal record. That's right I was officially a criminal, for you see at some time my accidents seemed to raise suspicions so he arranged it so that it would seem like I tried to rob his house but my partner double-crossed me. They never caught my partner but the police was proud in apprehending me. I never said anything, never denied never even tried to reason with them, because that was impossible. They were the enemy and I had to keep my guard up no matter what. I always tried to escape and I always ended up in the hospital afterwards.

Two weeks ago I was hospitalized because of a knife wound in my left side. Although I lost a lot of blood I unfortunately lived. I say unfortunately because if I would have died two things would be accomplished one I would finally have some peace and two he would be under investigation. But faith decided against me or so I thought then and allowed me to leave.

One week ago a detective came to my room and started questioning me. I turned my head the other way and decided to ignore her. She saw this so she began telling me a story. It was a story I was familiar with for it sounded a lot like my own.

_"Ten years ago a girl was introduced to her mother's fiancé. The three of them lived happily together until one day her mother was called to school. It appears that the girl had bruises on her body; her attitude had changed from a happy trusting person to an isolated hateful one. The mother didn't know what to say and her daughter gave her no answers either. The one who seemingly knew what happened was the fiancé who talk about the fact that the girl was part of a gang. They tried to get her back on the right track yet nothing worked, she started running away from home and even stealing from her own family. Her accomplice was never caught though. After one year she committed suicide, leaving nothing in her wake but a letter and a grieving mother. In her fine handwriting a single phrase was said "you should have trusted me". The fiancé disappeared soon after. Tell me, does this storry sound familiar?"_

_"And if it does?" I asked full of distrust. _She was a cop afterall and they can't be trusted.

_"Then help me catch him"_

_"I thought the girl was in a gang, and that she killed herself, so I see no crime."_

_"Don't you? Are you really a criminal? Are you in a gang?"_

_"IF I say yes then we do things my way." I_ know I can't trust her but I really have nothing to lose right now.

_"So be it"_

Ten hours ago the plan was set into action and for the first time in what seemed forever I walked with my head held high. The plan was nothing short of suicidal, but that was the least of my concerns for somehow everything would come to an end on this day. I walked around the tennis courts trying to find a reason to fight for my life and not just his end. I found none. My grandmother ignored my gaze and asked a regular to escort me out. It didn't hurt as much as it used to. My heart had been shattered in so many peaces that I doubted I even had one left. I wasn't ashamed I went through far worse humiliations in my own home. I saw Fuji approaching me and for once his mask seemed to waver. I guess he pitied me.

"I can go on my own Fuji you don't have to miss practice"

I tried to act like the cheerful girl I once was. I failed miserably. My voice was laced with sadness and hate fear and disgust and regret.

"Stop it " I heard him say though I might be mistaken for his voice was but a whisper. That's when I looked at him. It was the first time I really looked at the tensai. His eyes were wide open for me to see… what? I didn't know what the emotion so clearly mirrored in them was. Probably something that was long dead inside of me.

He grabbed my hand gently and kissed my bandaged fingers. The gesture seemed so out of place for me. I walked out through the school gates heading towards nowhere. I still had plenty of time till nightfall, so I wondered the streets I now knew as my real home. Whenever I could stand no more I ran here and the cold city littered with crooks rapists and murderers seemed far wormer and safer than home.

He was drunk that night, and I knew than this could only end badly. I thought that he would begin hitting me as soon as I would walk through the door, he always did, but tonight he had a different plan. He dragged me to my room and locked us in. I watched in morbid fascination as he dismantled the ceiling light and formed what looked like a butchers hook. He than tied my hands above my head and placed them in said hook so that I was now dangling a few inches above the floor. My wrists hurt from the pressure and the rope cut the flesh like a jagged knife. I was scared. He slowly and meticulously prepared his instruments, a whip a rusted knife a knuckle duster and several ther pieces. I knew them all too well. He ripped my shirt and began. By the third hit I was already out of it. I don't know how long it took for the police to get there, or to brake down the door. The sound of their voices jolted me back to reality enough to see the crazed look in his eyes. I knew than it was over for the both of us. He took the knife and plunged it in my chest. I thought he would do more damage but no. he turned around lit a cigarette and sat on the floor watching my life slip away.

I wish I knew why he did it but it didn't matter, nothing mattered anymore for as I sit here watching my blood form a deep red pool beneath my feet I can feel noting but relief. No fear no regrets nothing... just peace. The voices around me seem to drift further and further away and soon I fall asleep.

Well that's it for now. i'll update pretty soona dnd please tell me what you think about it. is there anything i should change or that you didn't like?


	2. Chapter 2

i don't own prince of tennis 

CHAPTER 1 MY FAULT

_How could this happen? …_

_Why was I so blind to her pain? …_

_NO…This cant be real…Sakuno can't die. Not like this._

_I should have stopped her when I saw her this morning. I knew something was wrong but I …I was too scared._

…_And now this happened. If only I arrived there sooner… If only…_

Flashback

It was somewhere around sunset when Fuji Suyusuke decided to stop by Ryuzachi Sakuno's residence. His steps were hesitant betraying the conflict he had within his mind. He was torn between going and returning home. Between finding the real truth behind her strange behavior or accepting the easy way out which was to believe what others told him. But he didn't have a chance to solve that riddle for soon he saw an ambulance and several police cars heading towards her apartment.

Worry seeped inside his heart and he found himself running through the door where the once innocent and sweet Sakuno used to leave. What he saw there would stay inside his mind forever. The images of her, beaten and bleeding were burned in his memory. The moment he cracked was when a pair of cops untied her hands and left her to just drop to the floor as if she were nothing but a piece of meat. The resounding thud echoed through his ears growing louder and louder till it was too much to bear. He didn't know how but he managed to get them away from her enough to hold the small girl in his arms. He called her name over and over again praying she would answer, that he would hear her voice if only for a moment. But she didn't say a thing, and her skin was getting colder and colder. He was pushed away by another cop. She looked at him like he was trash and for some reason he couldn't blame her, he could only blame himself. The doctor that finally examined her said that she was still alive so he left with her in an ambulance. Everything seemed surreal to him, and in his mind he kept repeating only one phrase _"This is just a dream…" _but when he woke up he was at the hospital listening to a doctor telling the cop how serious everything was.

End flashback

"How did this happen? … Why didn't you stop him? Aren't you supposed to protect people? …" his voice kept rising till he was screaming at the young cop. He felt like he would explode if he didn't do something but then she hit him. The shock was so big that it rendered him speechless. But what really hurt were her words.

"How about you? Weren't you supposed to be her friend? Don't friends listen and trust each other? Support one another when times are hard. Why did you turn your back on her when she needed you most, when she needed all of you. Open you eyes… this hasn't been the first time it happened but it is the last! Tell me … What did **you** do to help her?"

At this he could not answer.

_She's right…it is my fault. I should have listened to her more, trusted her, instead I turned my back to her. I left her alone to deal with this. I just never thought it was so serious. _

_God… please, please save her. She doesn't deserve to die… she doesn't deserve any of this…_

The doctor came with a somber look on his face. His eyes were full of pity and sadness, and it was because of this that Fuji knew she had died. Yet no matter how obvious the fact was hearing it gave it finality, one that Fuji wasn't prepared for. He silently followed the doctor to the operating room where he saw her, and although she was lying on a table surrounded by instruments soaked in her own blood covered by a white sheet she looked peaceful.

He walked towards her and knelt at her head watching her like you watch a sleeping child.

_You look so peaceful, like you are sleeping. But you won't wake up this time will you? You will no longer smile nor look at me with those innocent eyes that I adore. I will never again hear your sweet voice calling my name or feel your hand tugging at my sleeve when I am lost in thought. I will never get the chance to tell you that I love you because now… you're too far to hear my words, to see my tears…_

"I'm sorry but you'll have to leave now." The doctor told him in an icy tone.

And he did leave, he left the hospital, he allowed his feet to lead him to wherever they wished. He didn't hear nor see anything, if he did he might have noticed that it was close to dawn, but the beauty of the sunrise was lost to him. He kept walking till he stopped. To tired to continue he finally took notice of his surroundings.

And it was then that the tears he had held came full force. He fell to his knees his legs no longer able to support him, and there on the grass they often laid their tired bodies, in the clearing they often came to talk he shed his tears of sorrow.

_How ironic… the place that watched us grow up is where I am to part with you. But how can I when everything is a constant reminder, when there were so many things left unsaid? Tell me …do you remember how we met? How much fun we used to have?_

_I promised that I would always be there if you needed me. Why couldn't I keep that promise? Did you know I was jealous? I was…you would probably laugh if I told you this, but you won't, not anymore._

He was awakened from his thoughts by the ringing of his cell. It was Tezuka. He wasn't really up to talking to anyone right now so he just hung up. What could he say to them anyway? What will he tell her mother and grandmother?

He didn't know. It seemed as though he didn't know anything anymore. The evening air made him aware that he hadn't been home since yesterday, yet he didn't want to go there. He would only see more memories of her and he couldn't take that. Not yet. So he started to walk again, his destination unknown to even him. He knew that he was running but there was little else he could do.

Back at the hospital

After Fuji left the doctor went back inside the room to finish preparing his patient. To his complete surprise a faint pulse was evident. Wasting no time he began operating on the girl once more, and this time the outcome was far better. She was in a coma, but she was alive, the chances of her waking up were slim but there were.

As soon as the operation finished detective Garland was the first one informed (the cop that slapped Fuji). She was happy yet sad for the girl, because even if she did pull through the wounds would never fully heal. And with the command issued by the chief of police she really doubted of a full psychological recovery. She wasn't allowed to let anyone know that the girl was alive and was to move her to a safer place as soon as the doctor would allow it.

_And then what? What will I tell her when she wakes up and asks for her family? Sorry honey but you can never see them again. But hey thanks for risking your life to help us catch the creep. How will I be able to look her in the eye ever again? _

_Maybe this is for the best…I doubt that she would be a lot better with her own family and friends. The ones that she lost all faith in…_

"Detective Garland, what are we going to do now?"

"What time is it Tsujiai?"

"It's close to 12 in the afternoon"

"Then I guess will interrogate _**him** _and talk to the family and friends tomorrow. Remember she is officially dead, so no slip ups."

"Yes mam."

_I'm sorry Sakuno… sorry for everything…_

Sorry for updating so late but I've had family problems but now I'll try to update the story at least once a week. If you still like it that is.

Thank for the wonderful reviews and even if it's pretty sad right now I'll try to give it a happy ending. If there is something that you don't like about this story please tell me because I want to get better at writing so any comments are welcomed.


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